Operational Satellite Monitoring Systems for Marine Oil and Gas Industry
A.G. Kostianoya, D.M. Solovyovb*
a
Ocean Experimental Physics Laboratory, P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, 36, Nakhimovsky Pr., Moscow,
117997, Russia – kostianoy@gmail.com
b
Remote Sensing Department, Marine Hydrophysical Institute, 2, Kapitanskaya Str., Sevastopol, 99011, Ukraine –
solmit@gmail.com
Abstract - Shipping activities, oil production and transport
in the sea, oil handled in harbors, construction of oil and gas
pipelines have a number of negative impacts on the marine
environment and coastal zone. We elaborated several
operational satellite monitoring systems for oil and gas
companies in Russia and performed complex satellite
monitoring of the ecological state of coastal waters, which
included oil pollution, suspended matter, and algae bloom,
in a fully operational regime. Our experience includes: (1)
monitoring of the Lukoil D-6 oil rig in the southeastern
Baltic Sea in 2004-2005; (2) monitoring of the underwater
gas pipeline “Dzhubga-Lazarevskoe-Sochi” construction in
the eastern Black Sea (2010); (3) monitoring of the “Nord
Stream” underwater gas pipeline construction in the Baltic
Sea (2010); (4) elaboration of the structure and principles of
the complex satellite monitoring system organization for all
coastal seas of Russia (2009-2010).
Keywords: Satellite monitoring, Oil and gas industry, Oil
pollution, SAR, Numerical modelling
1. INTRODUCTION
Detection of oil pollution is among most important goals of
monitoring of a coastal zone. Public interest in the problem of
oil pollution arises mainly during dramatic tanker and oil
platform catastrophes such as “Amoco Cadiz” (France, 1978),
“Ixtoc I” (Gulf of Mexico, 1979-1980), “Exxon Valdez”
(Alaska, 1989), “The Sea Empress” (Wales, 1996), “Erica”
(France, 1999), “Prestige” (Spain, 2002), and “Deepwater
Horizon” (Gulf of Mexico, 2010). However, tanker and oil
platform catastrophes are only one among many causes of oil
pollution. Oil and oil product spillages at sea take place all the
time, and it would be a delusion to consider tanker accidents the
main environmental danger. According to the International
Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF), over the period
of 1974-2002, spillages resulting from collisions, groundings,
tanker holes and fires amounted to 52% of total leakages during
tanker loading/unloading and bunkering operations. Discharge
of wastewater containing oil products is another important
source, by pollutant volume comparable to offshore oil
extraction and damaged underwater pipelines. The greatest, but
hardest-to-estimate oil inputs come from domestic and
industrial discharges, direct or via rivers, and from natural
hydrocarbon seeps. The long-term effects of this chronic
pollution are arguably more harmful to the coastal
environment than a single, large-scale accident.
Shipping activities in the sea, including oil transport and oil
handled in harbors, have a number of negative impacts on the
marine environment and coastal zone. Oil discharges from ships
represent a significant threat to marine ecosystems. Oil spills
cause the contamination of seawater, shores, and beaches,
which may persist for several months and represent a threat to
marine resources. One of the main tasks in the ecological
monitoring of the inland and coastal seas is an operational
satellite and aerial detection of oil spillages, determination of
their characteristics, establishment of the pollution sources and
forecast of probable trajectories of the oil spill transport. Oil
pollution monitoring in the Mediterranean, North and Baltic Sea
is normally carried out by aircrafts or ships (Kostianoy, 2008).
This is expensive and is constrained by the limited availability
of these resources. Aerial surveys over large areas of the seas to
check for the presence of oil are limited to the daylight hours in
good weather conditions. Satellite imagery can help greatly
identifying probable spills over very large areas and then
guiding aerial surveys for precise observation of specific
locations. The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument,
which can collect data independently of weather and light
conditions, is an excellent tool to monitor and detect oil on
water surfaces. This instrument offers the most effective means
of monitoring oil pollution: oil slicks appear as dark patches on
SAR images because of the damping effect of the oil on the
backscattered signals from the radar instrument. This type of
instrument is currently on board the European Space Agency's
ENVISAT and ERS-2 satellites, the Canadian Space Agency’s
RADARSAT-1 and -2 satellites, and a German Earth
observation satellite TerraSAR-X. The ENVISAT satellite was
launched in March 2002 by the European Space Agency (ESA).
Operational systems, which include 10 instruments, have been
developed to monitor oceans, ice, land and atmosphere.
ENVISAT has 35day repeat cycle, but due to wide swaths by
some of the instruments, the Earth is covered within a few days.
ASAR (Advanced Synthetic-Aperture Radar) instrument is used
for mapping sea ice and oil slick monitoring, measurements of
ocean surface features (currents, fronts, eddies, internal waves),
ship detection, oil and gas exploration, etc. Users of remotely
sensed data for oil spill applications include the Coast Guard,
national environmental protection agencies and departments, oil
companies, shipping, insurance and fishing industries, national
departments of fisheries and oceans, and other organizations.
Since 2003 in cooperation between P.P. Shirshov Institute of
Oceanology, Russian Space Research Institute, Geophysical
Center (Moscow, Russia), and Marine Hydrophysical Institute
(Sevastopol, Ukraine) we elaborated several operational satellite
monitoring systems for oil and gas companies in Russia and
performed complex satellite monitoring of the ecological state
of coastal waters in a fully operational regime (24/24 and 7/7)
(Kostianoy et al., 2009). Our experience includes: (1)
elaboration of the complex satellite monitoring system and
monitoring of the Lukoil D-6 oil rig in the southeastern Baltic
Sea in 2004-2005; (2) elaboration of the complex satellite
monitoring system (2007) and monitoring (2010) of the
underwater gas pipeline “Dzhubga-Lazarevskoe-Sochi”
construction in the eastern Black Sea; (3) elaboration of the
complex satellite monitoring system (2006) and monitoring
(2010) of the “Nord Stream” underwater gas pipeline
construction in the Baltic Sea; (4) elaboration of the complex
satellite monitoring system for the underwater gas pipeline
“Bovanenkovo-Ukhta” construction in the Baydaratskaya Guba,
the Kara Sea (2007); (5) elaboration of the complex satellite
monitoring system for the Caspian Sea (2008); (6) elaboration
of the structure and principles of the complex satellite
monitoring system organization for all coastal seas of Russia
(2009-2010). The accident on the BP oil platform «Deepwater
Horizon» on 20 April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico showed that
absence of such a permanent complex satellite monitoring
system makes low effective all efforts related to cleaning
operations at sea and on the shore during the first days after the
accident (Lavrova and Kostianoy, 2010). Examples from the
above mentioned projects in the Baltic Sea are shown in the
paper.
2. SATELLITE MONITORING OF THE LUKOIL D-6
OIL PLATFORM IN THE BALTIC SEA
Since 1993 there is no regular aerial surveillance of the oil spills
in the Russian sector of the southeastern Baltic Sea and in the
Gulf of Finland. In June 2003 LUKOIL-Kaliningradmorneft
initiated a pilot project, aimed to the complex monitoring of the
southeastern Baltic Sea, in connection with a beginning of oil
production at continental shelf of Russia in March 2004.
Operational monitoring was performed in June 2004 –
November 2005 on the base of daily satellite remote sensing
(AVHRR NOAA, MODIS, TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1,
ENVISAT ASAR and RADARSAT SAR imagery) of SST, sea
level, chlorophyll and suspended matter concentration,
mesoscale dynamics, wind and waves, and oil spills (Kostianoy
et al., 2005; 2006, 2009). As a result a complex information on
oil pollution of the sea, SST, distribution of suspended matter,
chlorophyll concentration, sea currents and meteorological
parameters has been received. General goals of the satellite oil
pollution monitoring in the Baltic Sea were:
(i)
Detection of oil spills in the vicinity of D-6 oil platform
as well as in the large area of the southeastern Baltic Sea;
(ii)
Identification of sources of pollution;
(iii)
Forecast of oil spills drift;
(iv)
Data systematization and archiving;
(v)
Cooperation with authorities.
Sea wind speed fields were derived from scatterometer data
from every path of the QuikSCAT satellite over the Baltic Sea
(twice a day). These data were combined with data from coastal
meteorological stations in Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia,
Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, and numerical weather
models. Satellite altimetry data from every track of Jason-1 over
the Baltic Sea were used for compilation of sea wave height
charts, which include the results of the FNMOC (Fleet
Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center) WW3
Model. Both data were used for the analysis of the ASAR
ENVISAT imagery and estimates of oil spill drift direction and
velocity.
In total 274 oil spills were detected in 230 ASAR ENVISAT
images and 17 SAR RADARSAT images received during 18
months. A map of all oil spills detected by the analysis of the
ASAR ENVISAT imagery in the given area of the southeastern
Baltic Sea from 12 June 2004 till 30 November 2005 is
presented in Figure 1. A real form and dimension of oil spills
are shown. Green square shows location of the D-6 oil platform.
Oil spills clearly revealed the main ship routes in the Baltic Sea
directed to Ventspils, Liepaja, Klaipeda (routes from different
directions), Kaliningrad, and along Gotland Island. No spills
originated from D-6 oil platform were observed.
Operational monitoring of oil pollution in the sea was based on
the processing and analysis of ASAR ENVISAT (every pass
over the southeastern Baltic Sea, 400x400 km, 75 m/pixel
resolution) and SAR RADARSAT (300x300 km, 25 m/pixel
resolution) images received from KSAT Station (Kongsberg
Satellite Services, Tromsø, Norway) in operational regime (1-2
hours after the satellite’s overpass).
For interpretation of ASAR ENVISAT imagery and forecast of
oil spills drift IR and VIS AVHRR (NOAA) and MODIS (Terra
and Aqua) images were received, processed and analyzed, as
well as the QuikSCAT scatterometer and the JASON-1
altimeter data. Satellite receiving station at Marine
Hydrophysical Institute (MHI) in Sevastopol was used for
operational 24 hours/day, 7 days/week receiving of AVHRR
NOAA data for construction of sea surface temperature, optical
characteristics of sea water and currents maps. SST variability
and intensive algae bloom (high concentration of blue-green
algae on the sea surface in the summertime) allow to highlight
meso- and small-scale water dynamics in the Baltic Sea and to
follow movements of currents, eddies, dipoles, jets, filaments,
river plumes and outflows from the Vistula and the Curonian
bays. Sequence of daily MODIS IR and VIS imagery allows to
reconstruct a real field of surface currents (direction and
velocity) with 0.25-1 km resolution, which is very important for
a forecast of a direction and velocity of potential pollution drift
including oil spills. Combination of ASAR ENVISAT images
with high resolution VIS and IR MODIS images allows to
understand the observed form of the detected oil spills and to
predict their transport by currents.
Figure 1. Map of all oil spills detected by the analysis of the
ASAR ENVISAT and SAR RADARSAT imagery in June 2004
– November 2005.
3. NUMERICAL MODELLING
The interactive numerical model Seatrack Web of Swedish
Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) was used for
a forecast of the drift of (1) all large oil spills detected by ASAR
ENVISAT in the southeastern Baltic Sea and (2) virtual
(simulated) oil spills from the D-6 platform (Figure 2). The
latter was done daily for operational correction of the action
plan for accident elimination at the D-6 and ecological risk
assessment (oil pollution of the sea and the Curonian Spit).
This version of a numerical model on the Internet platform has
been developed at the Swedish Meteorological and
Hydrological Institute in close co-operation with Danish
authorities (Ambjörn, 2006). The system uses two different
operational weather models ECMWF and HIRLAM (HIgh
Resolution Limited Area Model, 22 km grid) and circulation
model HIROMB (HIgh Resolution Operational Model for the
Baltic Sea, 24 layers, driven by the two weather models
respectively), which calculates the current field at 3 n.m. grid.
The model allows to forecast the oil drift for five days ahead or
to make a hind cast (backward calculation) for 30 days in the
whole Baltic Sea. When calculating the oil drift, wind and
current forecasts are taken from the operational models. An oil
spreading calculation is added to the currents, as well as oil
evaporation, emulsification, sinking, stranding and dispersion.
This powerful system today is in operational use in Sweden,
Denmark, Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and
Russia (Ambjörn, 2006). Statistics, based on daily forecast of
the oil spills drift from the D-6 oil platform in July-December
2004, shows potential probability (%) of the appearance of an
oil spill in any point of the area during 48 h after an accidental
release of 10 m3 of oil (Figure 2). Probability of the oil spill
drift directed to the Curonian Spit (150˚-sector from D-6) equals
to 67%, but only in a half of these cases oil spills reached the
coast.
Russia to Greifswald in Germany. It will carry 55 billion m3 of
natural gas each year to supply both businesses and households.
The construction in the sea has started in May 2010. The first
line of the Nord Stream is scheduled to be completed in 2011.
The second, parallel pipeline will be constructed in 2012. The
pipeline has been planned with deep awareness of the
environmental issues and specific conditions of the Baltic Sea,
basing on the comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment
program that was conducted before implementing the project
(Ermakov et al., 2007; Kostianoy et al., 2008).
The construction process of the pipeline may cause, in
particular, the following impact on the marine environment: (i)
oil pollution due to the operation of ships, pipe lay ships, dredge
ships and mechanisms in the sea; (ii) increase of suspended
matter concentration due to dumping of sand and gravel, and
dredging operations; (iii) provoking of local algal bloom events
in summertime due to vertical mixing resulted from dumping
and dredging works.
But in many parts of the Baltic Sea the pipeline coincides with
the main ship route crossing the sea from the Gulf of Finland to
the southwestern part of the Baltic Sea. Along this ship route we
have already been yearly observing the maximum of oil spills
discharged from ships well before the Nord Stream construction
(Helcom, 2002). Besides, in many parts of the Baltic Sea, which
will be crossed by the pipeline, we observe very large areas of
water with a high concentration of suspended matter and areas
of very intense algal bloom. Both are observed yearly and have
natural reasons. Thus, there are two very important and
interrelated tasks: (i) to monitor in the operational regime the
ecological state of the sea at the site of the pipeline construction,
and (ii) to discriminate between natural effects and
anthropogenic impacts, related to the construction itself.
Moreover, oil spills must be distinguished between “own”
pollution and “alien” pollution belonging to the transient ships.
Complex satellite remote sensing of the sea surface in the
operational regime can solve these problems.
In 2006 we elaborated and proposed a detailed plan of the
complex satellite monitoring of the Nord Stream gas pipeline
construction in the operational regime, which is based on our
previous experience in the complex satellite monitoring of the
ecological state of the Southeastern Baltic Sea, related to the
operational control of oil pollution around the D-6 oil platform
operated by Lukoil-Kaliningradmorneft (Kaliningrad, Russia)
(Kostianoy et al., 2005, 2006).
Figure 2: Probability of observation of potential oil pollution
from D-6 platform during the first 48 hours after an accidental
release of 10 m3 of oil (basing on 6 months daily release of oil
spill from the oil platform).
4. SATELLITE MONITORING OF THE NORD STREAM
GAS PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION
The Nord Stream is a more than 1200-km long gas pipeline that
will link Russia to Europe via the Baltic Sea from Vyborg in
The route of the Nord Stream gas pipeline coincides exactly the
main ship route, and a line with a highest concentration of oil
spills in the Baltic Sea. This fact leads to a supplementary task:
oil spills must be distinguished between potential “own”
pollution and “alien” pollution belonging to the transient ships.
Thus, the ecological monitoring of the Nord Stream gas pipeline
in the Baltic Sea has to include the operational satellite
monitoring of all oil spillages detected in the vicinity of the site
of the pipeline construction – determination of their
characteristics, establishment of the pollution sources and
forecast of probable trajectories of the oil spill transport.
The construction process of the pipeline will cause the
development of local plumes of sedimentary material resulted
from dumping of material on the seabed or induced by dredging
activities. From the other side, satellite imagery shows very
large areas with high concentration of suspended matter which
is a natural phenomenon resulted from the mixing of coastal
waters.
Owing to the strong wind events, the material in the shallower
areas is brought into suspension and advected by the currents.
Usually, the transport of fine material starts in the shallow
coastal regions when the wind speed exceeds a value of 10 m/s.
Thus, the transport of fine material is weak during the summer
and early autumn.
Since May 2010 in the framework of the contract signed with
the Nord Stream Company we perform daily satellite
monitoring of the suspended matter distribution on the sea
surface in the Gulf of Finland. Discrimination between natural
and anthropogenic effects as well as numerical modeling of
suspended matter transport was included in the list of tasks of
the proposed complex satellite monitoring of the gas pipeline
construction.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The ecological monitoring in the field of marine oil and gas
industry (construction and exploitation of oil and gas pipelines,
platforms, terminals and ports) in the inland and coastal seas has
to include the operational satellite monitoring of: (i) all oil
spillages detected in the vicinity of the site of the construction –
determination of their characteristics, establishment of the
pollution sources and forecast of probable trajectories of the oil
spill transport; (ii) suspended matter – determination of its
spatial and temporal characteristics, determination of suspended
matter concentration, discrimination between natural and
anthropogenic effects; (iii) algal bloom events – determination
of their spatial and temporal characteristics, discrimination
between natural and anthropogenic effects.
Research Institute (SMIS IKI RAN, http://smis.iki.rssi.ru/) for
AVHRR data; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for the
production and distribution of MODIS (Terra and Aqua) data
(http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html);
Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center
(PODAAC), JPL NASA (ftp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov) for the
production and distribution of QuikSCAT and JASON-1 data;
and Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI,
www.smhi.se/) for the access to the Seatrack Web model.
REFERENCES
C. Ambjörn, “Seatrack Web, forecast of oil spills, the new
version 2.0”, Abstracts, US/EU–Baltic Int. Symp. on
“Integrated Ocean Observation Systems for Managing Global &
Regional Ecosystems Using Marine Research, Monitoring &
Technologies”, May 23-25, 2006, Klaipeda, Lithuania.
P.N. Ermakov, E.O. Cherevichenko, and A.G. Kostianoy,
“Industrial environmental monitoring and control of the
environmental legislation in construction and operation of the
offshore section of the North-European Gas Pipeline”, Proc.,
VIII International Environmental Forum “Baltic Sea Day”, St.Petersburg, 21-23 March 2007, “Dialog” Publ. House, St.Petersburg, pp. 236-240.
HELCOM, 2002 (www.helcom.fi).
A.G. Kostianoy, “Satellite monitoring of oil pollution in the
European Coastal Seas”, OCEANIS, vol 34, N 1/2, pp. 111-126,
2008.
ASAR ENVISAT and SAR RADARSAT provide effective
capabilities to monitor oil spills, in particular, in the Baltic Sea.
Combined with satellite remote sensing (AVHRR NOAA,
MODIS-Terra and -Aqua, MERIS Envisat, Landsat, Jason-1,
etc.) of SST, sea level, suspended matter and chlorophyll
concentration, mesoscale dynamics, wind and waves, this
observational system represents a powerful method for longterm monitoring of ecological state of the inland and coastal
seas especially vulnerable to oil pollution. Such an operational
satellite monitoring system must be accompanied by an
operational numerical model for forecasting of the drift of the
detected oil spills in the vicinity of the construction for
assessment of ecological risks related to potential oil pollution
of the neighboring coasts and marine protected areas. Daily
meteorological information and weather models are of vital
importance for the system.
A. Kostianoy, P. Ermakov, and D. Solovyov, “Complex satellite
monitoring of the Nord Stream gas pipeline construction”,
Proc., US/EU Baltic 2008 International Symposium “Ocean
Observations, Ecosystem-Based Management and Forecasting”,
May 27-29, 2008, Tallinn, Estonia.
In 2004-2005 we elaborated and performed such a complex
approach to operational monitoring of the Southeastern Baltic
Sea in connection with a beginning of oil production on the
Lukoil D-6 oil platform at continental shelf of Russia in March
2004. Today, we use the same system for a complex satellite
monitoring of the Nord Stream gas pipeline construction in the
Baltic Sea and “Dzhubga-Lazarevskoe-Sochi” gas pipeline
construction in the Black Sea.
A.G. Kostianoy, K.Ts. Litovchenko, O.Yu. Lavrova, M.I.
Mityagina, T.Yu. Bocharova, S.A. Lebedev, S.V. Stanichny,
D.M. Solovyov, A.M. Sirota, and O.E. Pichuzhkina,
“Operational satellite monitoring of oil spill pollution in the
southeastern Baltic Sea: 18 months experience”, Environmental
Research, Engineering and Management, N 4(38), pp. 70-77,
2006.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank European Space Agency (ESA,
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/index.html) and Kongsberg Satellite
Services (KSAT, Tromsø, Norway, www.ksat.no/) for the
production and distribution of ASAR ENVISAT data (Contract
04-10095-А-С); NOAA (http://www.noaa.gov/) and Space
Monitoring Information Support Laboratory in Russian Space
A.G. Kostianoy, O.Yu. Lavrova, and M.I. Mityagina,
“Integrated satellite monitoring of oil pollution in the Russian
seas”, In: “Problems of Ecological Monitoring and Modelling of
Ecosystems”, Yu.A. Izrael (Ed.), vol 22, pp. 235-266, 2009 (in
Russian).
A.G. Kostianoy, S.A. Lebedev, D.M. Solovyov, and O.E.
Pichuzhkina, Satellite monitoring of the Southeastern Baltic
Sea. Annual Report 2004. Lukoil-Kaliningradmorneft,
Kaliningrad, 36 p., 2005.
O.Yu. Lavrova, and A.G. Kostianoy, “A Catastrophic Oil Spill
in the Gulf of Mexico in April-May 2010”, Russian Journal for
Remote Sensing (Issledovanie Zemli iz Kosmosa), N 6, pp. 6772, 2010 (in Russian).